A yeshiva teacher and summer camp counselor has pleaded guilty to child exploitation and pornography charges.

Evan Zauder

Evan Zauder, 27, a former sixth grade teacher at a New Jersey school, pled guilty on January 22 to charges that he used the internet to entice a boy to engage in sexual activity and to possessing and distributing child pornography online.

A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said that no students at Zauder’s former employer, Yeshivat Noam, a Modern Orthodox school, in Paramus, were involved in the abuse.

When FBI agents raided Zauder’s Manhattan apartment in May, 2012, they found on his computer hundreds of images and videos of boys, some as young as 7, engaged in sex acts.

“Evan Zauder’s abuse and exploitation of minors was heinous criminal conduct perpetrated on some of the most vulnerable and powerless members of society,” Bharara said in a statement.

Zauder faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison at his sentencing in May.

Written by

Paul Berger has been a staff writer at the Forward since 2011, covering crime and healthcare issues, such as sex abuse, circumcision, and fraud. He is a fluent Russian speaker and has reported from Russia and Ukraine. He also likes digging into
historicalmysteries
.